In railway cars having side sills and crossbearers for carrying loads, the crossbearers are typically connected to the side sills for support. One example of connecting a crossbearer to a side sill is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,085,152 to Tylisz et al., assigned to Trinity Industries, Inc., which is incorporated herein for all purposes.
In designing various types of railway cars having side sills, it is frequently desirable to place the side sills as low as possible to the railway tracks or the prescribed clearance distance that has been authorized. At the same time, it is frequently desirable to maintain the strength and stability of the connection as well as ease of making the connection. Conventional crossbearer connections may not have provided an easy means for connecting the crossbearer to the side sill and side stakes that allow the side sills to be as low as desired while having a direct connection to the side stake.